Graham Ike, Gonzaga find way to contain San Francisco star Jonathan Mogbo in victory

Graham Ike’s free-throw shooting and low-post scoring were some of the biggest keys to Gonzaga’s second-half rally during a gutsy 77-72 win over San Francisco Thursday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Ike’s 22 points, on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 10 of 11 from the charity stripe, were especially impressive when you consider the task he faced on the opposite end against one of the Bulldogs’ top contenders in the West Coast Conference.

Gonzaga needed every ounce of energy Ike could expend in a game where the junior transfer was the Bulldogs’ go-to scorer and one of their most important defensive stoppers, spending much of the night shadowing WCC Player of the Year candidate Johnathan Mogbo.

Mogbo, who’d likely be the frontrunner for WCC POY honors if the season ended tomorrow, entered the night as the only player in the conference averaging a double-double, at 15.4 points and a league-high 10.5 rebounds per game.

With lots of pressure from Ike, and other Gonzaga teammates who got a crack at guarding the 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward, the Bulldogs contained Mogbo to just six shot attempts and USF’s top scorer was limited to eight points. Mogbo hauled down 11 rebounds and had four assists with two turnovers.

“I thought we did a great job on Mogbo all night. He’s a heckuva player,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “I thought we had different guys on him throughout the game. But yeah, Graham’s huge.

A transfer from Missouri State, Mogbo finished in single digits for the first time in a WCC game. Thursday marked his lowest output since Mogbo had four points on Dec. 13 against Seattle U. The junior had scored in double figures eight of nine game since then, including six consecutive.

Gonzaga’s defensive plan centered around limiting Mogbo’s touches and denying quality looks at the basket. The Bulldogs did that most of the night and Mogbo, who averages nearly 10 field goal attempts per game, only recorded one shot – an alley-oop dunk on an assist from Marcus Williams – inside the last 17 minutes, 23 seconds.

Said Ike of Gonzaga’s strategy on Mogbo: “Pressure up into him, crawl up into him, definitely try to keep the ball out of his hands. Then just on ball screens try to pressure the guard to where they might have to pop it to him and make him make some decisions.”

Forcing Mogbo to defer to teammates was only part of Gonzaga’s defensive plan for the athletic, high-scoring USF junior, according to Few.

“It’s more complicated than that,” Gonzaga’s coach said. “We just hit our coverages. We guarded him and we hit our coverages.”

Ike said he’s embraced many of the defensive challenges that have come during his first season at Gonzaga. He’s already had run-ins with All-American candidates such as Purdue’s Zach Edey and UConn’s Donovan Clingan, and spent portions of a home loss to San Diego State locking horns with Aztecs star Jaedon LeDee.

Those tests surely helped prepare Ike for Thursday’s test against one of the top frontcourt players Gonzaga will see during WCC play.

“It’s a fun challenge,” Ike said. “It’s why you play the game, just to test where you’re at as a team, as an individual. Ultimately we got from the outcome.”

Mogbo dealt with Ike when the Dons were on offense and had the enormous challenge of trying to limit Gonzaga’s big man on the other end of the floor. Nobody in a USF uniform was successful in that regard and Ike scored 19 of his game-high 22 points after the halftime break, making the Dons pay in the low post and at the free throw line.